Will E-Books Survive?

[Steve]

 Two years ago Stephen King released his novel "Riding the Bullet" in electronic book format. It sold more than 400,000 copies. Some industry analysts wrote that this single event foretold the future, speculating that e-books would soon do to publishing what digital music was doing to recording and digital pictures was doing to photography.

They were wrong.

Proof of this came this week when two major companies engaged in the sale and distribution of e-books pulled out of the e-book business. First, there was PalmSource, announcing that it would be selling its Palm Digital Media business, which makes the acclaimed e-book reader Palm Reader and also distributes e-books, to PalmGear. Palm Digital Media has relationships with more than 75 publishers, including industry leaders HarperCollins, Penguin Group (USA), Random House, St. Martin's Press, Simon & Schuster and Time Warner Book Group, to sell more than 10,000 titles. Although PalmSource has not provided details of its e-book operation, it's safe to say that Palm Digital Media is not a significant source of revenue, or profit. If it were, PalmSource would likely not be abandoning it, especially for next to nothing.

Next, there was Barnes & Noble.com's announcement that it would stop selling e-books altogether, citing weak sales and limited technology. While several e-book industry groups and publishing houses have surfaced to sing the praises of e-books and defend its future, the numbers speak for themselves. E-book sales are a small fraction of the overall book market.

So is there a future for e-books? Maybe, but not when it comes to novels. To obviate paper-based novels, e-book novels must provide something compelling. That means that they must "do novels" better, easier or cheaper, and preferably all three. E-books do none of these when it comes to novels.

But that's not the case with digital pictures and music.

For example, take digital photography. Digital photography has several advantages over film-based photography. It does not require film, which reduces costs over time. It does not require developing, which again reduces costs and also enables you to get your pictures faster. And for the average consumer, the picture quality from a digital camera is as good as that from a traditional camera. It's no wonder that as the cost of digital cameras and digital memory cards has fallen, sales have soared. And we?ll likely see the near elimination of film (except for professional photographers) by 2010.

Or take digital music. Digital music has caught on because it's cheap and it's easy to convert your existing music collection to digital format. It's also more portable than carrying around a bag of your favorite CDs. And finally, it's skip-less.

But what are the advantages of having a popular novel on e-book format over printed format? Can you take it to the beach? Or relax with it in the tub? No. Is it cheaper or easier to read? No. In fact, e-books actually bring additional concerns to readers, such as whether the battery in your e-book reader needs to be replaced or recharged.

However, that's not to say that e-books have no place at all. Reference books and manual, including schoolbooks, are perfect candidates for e-books and e-book readers. They increase portability, and are infinitely more searchable than their printed counterparts.

But novels in e-book form? I don't think so.

[Don't Panic!]

The large chains made the fatal mistake of using DRM5 as their copy protection scheme and charging hardcover prices for electronic versions. Where was the sense in charging hadcover prices for electronic books even when a paperback version was available at much lower prices? What is the point in using DRM5 to protect your books? it's not as if people don't already loan out their paper based books to other people already. Seriously did the publishers think that there would be this napster like frenzy for e-books?

Baen has the right idea when it comes to e-books although they specialize in the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre. Read more about there business model and download a ton of free e-books here.

Don't Panic!
Bobby

[bhageman]

I love e-books. If I'm not at home watching movies on my Betamax or in my car listening to 8-Tracks, I'm reading e-books on my PDA!

[rldunn]

Are you kidding me? IMO, ebooks are easier, cheaper, AND better than the dead tree versions. They are undisputably cheaper, unless you're buying your books from a garage sale (and maybe even then). Compare the prices at Palm Digital Media with what you find at your favorite bookstore. The prices are always at least a few bucks cheaper, if not more.

As for easier, I think ebooks are way easier than the paper version. I go to PDM, search through books in several ways (by author, title, subject, etc), find what I want, purchase it (after logging in, no need to even enter credit card info), and download it, then just sync it to my Clie. The whole process takes 5 minutes. Contrast this with having to drive to the store, search in an unorganized fashion through my neighborhood bookstore (often taking 10 minutes or more to find a book, even if you know the author or title before you get there), wait in line to checkout, then drive home. It's interesting that you compare ebooks to music, since music is much more of a pain if you obtain it legally. I think it takes a lot longer to rip and transfer MP3s than it does to buy, download, and sync an ebook. Also, if I'm leaving on a long trip, I just pick up my Clie and take it with me (which I would do anyway), and all my books are with it. With paper, you have to make sure you have room to pack all the books you want to take.

And as for better, you brought up a few situations where paper may be superior. But can you read a paper book in the dark (so your spouse can sleep in the same bed where you are reading)? Can you hold it one-handed, including for flipping pages? Can you search a paper book when you want to see where the character just mentioned was discussed earlier? Does a paper book turn itself when you want to read while working out? Can you tap on a word in a paper book when you want to see what it means or how it's pronounced? I think the positives of ebooks far outweigh the negatives.

Sure, there will be some that never want to give up paper books, and enjoy the slow pace of a neighborhood book store. But there will be others like me who will never go back to the paper versions. Ebooks are here to stay, and I think once people get over thinking that it's strange to read a book on a screen and realize the benefits (and when they have devices already that make it possible vs having to buy a device just to read ebooks), they won't turn back.

[markpmc]

Steve,

I came back to Brighthand because Ed works here now.

I swear, man you just miss the boat on some things.

B&N only marketed ebooks to the desktop and PPC crowd. They offered no formats except Adobe and MS Reader.

The question isn't if ebooks will survive; it's why the current pricing model doesn't work. Figure out how to license the individual user a book, instead of the MS way of licensing a device. Stop charging full price for something thats cheaper to produce than a paperback. These are issues with the current business model. I'd say we're in the shake out stage in the ebook industry.

Long live fictionwise!

markpmc

[drac]

I love paper books for the feel, the smell, the aesthetics. No e-book will be replacing the feel of a well-bound hardcover.

I'm an e-book fanatic because of the convenience. I've been a hardcore reader since toddlerhood. I used to walk around cconstantly with a bag with a few books, to forever keep boredom at bay.

I can now keep a library in my pocket.


To those who say that e-books have no place, I say: You've go to be freeping kidding!!



The problem with e-books as sold by B&N et al is that, via DRM, they sacrificed many of the advantages of e-books in order to gain the illusion of security.

[MJR]

This article totally misses the point. As others have mentioned, Barnes & Noble.com was so concerned about security, they assured themselves that the business would fail. Look at Palm Digital Media and Fictionwise and some others for much more successful business models.

I read many novels in ebook format for the convenience, advantages of electronic format (such as searching as mentioned by others), and I am one of the older folks who is supposed to prefer paper books...

I'm afraid the writer of this article fell into MS's and Adobe's mindset-their security measures have been trying to kill off ebooks for years now. Their anti-user, prevent anyone from copying anything even for their own use approach, instead of trusting the user to be responsible is the reason anything based on the DRM5 and similar systems will fail in the marketplace. It has nothing to do with ebooks per se, and everything to do with the security and business models.

[Timothy Rapson]

I love Ebooks. They are often free. They go anywhere my PDA goes and that is a lot more places than paper books go. They can be read in any font or size I choose. I can pick them up a month later and WordSmith remembers right where I left off. No dogeared pages or lost book marks.


I hate Ebooks. The draconian schemes for registering them have kept me from buying any. I only read free E. I would love to buy them, but registration takes forever. If the format I use today (say Palm Doc) is not the one the seller offered when I originally bought it (say MS Reader) I have to repurchase the book I already bought if I buy another device. Nope, I did all this with music from vinyl, to 8-Track (yep, I am really OLD!), to cassete to CD. I am not going there again. I also don't want to give all my personal information and worse yet keep track of another password, user name, and provider location! It is a huge bother.

Sorry, I would love to buy lots of books. If I could buy a title and download it in a standard RTF format, I would pay lots for books, magazines, and lots of other stuff. I don't steal software or music. I understand that the book publishing industry does not want to open itself to the sort of theft that is running rampant in the music industry (which I chalk up mostly to their greed at trying to double their prices and profits every year, instead of looking out for their customers) but making this nightmare for those of us who just want to buy a book and read it is keeping me out of the paid Ebook market.

[Keithos]

I don't think PalmSource got out of the e-book business for any other reason than focus on their core business - further development of the Palm Operating System. In any case, Palm Digital Media was turned over to longstanding, and newly reorganised software sales and distribution partner, Palmgear. To me, it's just a matter of who is better suited to running the business doing just that.

Given that Palm Digital Media was turned over to Palmgear though, Handango better watch themselves. Handango was given the software distribution channel at Palm.com a while back when Palmgear was in some financial trouble.

In any case, the e-book market has it's place. I carry a wealth of references on my Palm, and would carry more with more memory on-board or on-card. When I think about it too, I've spent far more money on e-books in the last few years than I would have on paper. That's simply because it's been far easier to get on the 'Net and look for and get what I want immediately. It's also easier to walk with my PDA and know that I have my latest reading on it, than have to decide what books I can fit in my notebook case on a morning.

Once the pricing model sorts itself out, and PDA's or e-book readers become as common and usable as cellphones, the e-book market will take off.

[sandshark]

Couldn't disagree with you any more in regards to the value of e-books.

I love reading ebooks using Palm Reader Pro on my NR70V: I can read with the lights out and not bother my significant other; look up words I don't know with the embedded college dictionary (way too lazy to look up a word in a physical dictionary); can purchase/download any time of day; not lose my bookmark; take my books anywhere I go; etc.. Registration isn't bad.

The industry has made its share of mistakes: I thought Amazon and Barnes-and-Noble goofed by only supporting Pocket PC and Adobe. Another goof is not passing some of the savings back to the consumer (Palm Media gets some blame here as well). Furthermore, some books are impossible or hard to find in e-book format, at least for your device.

A lot of people don't read full blown novels and e-book readers aren't going to change that. That said, a lot of people are using an e-book reader, it's called Avantgo. And the're reading shorter bits like the NY Times or other periodicals.

'Mike